Contents
CHAPTER—VI
Overview
Lenina debates Bernard’s oddness but continues with him, revealing their clash over conditioning, soma, and intimacy. The D.H.C. signs their permit, confesses a lost lover in New Mexico, then threatens Bernard with Iceland. After Bernard’s hollow bravado and panic, he and Lenina proceed to the Savage Reservation, arriving at Malpais before a festival.
Summary
Lenina considers canceling New Mexico for the North Pole but chooses the rare chance to visit the Savage Reservation with Bernard, despite finding Bernard’s desire for privacy and refusal of soma unsettling. Their outings reveal sharp differences: Bernard rejects crowds and conditioning, seeks solitude and talk, and stops their helicopter to contemplate the sea. Lenina, distressed, urges soma and conformity. They return to London, sleep together, but Bernard later laments the haste; Lenina is confused and consults Fanny, who blames his oddness on alcohol in his surrogate.
Bernard seeks the D.H.C.’s signature. Seeing the New Mexico destination, the D.H.C. inadvertently recalls a past trip where a Beta-Minus companion vanished in a storm, a memory that still haunts him. Embarrassed, he pivots to censure Bernard’s nonconformity and threatens transfer to Iceland if he lapses again. Bernard leaves exhilarated, later boasting to Helmholtz that he defied the D.H.C., but Helmholtz is unimpressed by his posturing.
Traveling by rocket to Santa Fé, Bernard and Lenina prepare for the Reservation. At the Warden’s office, a booming flood of facts delays them while Bernard frets about a running scent tap at home and, after phoning Helmholtz, learns the D.H.C. publicly plans to replace and possibly send him to Iceland. His imagined courage collapses; Lenina persuades him to take soma to quell his panic.
Escorted by a Reservation Guard, they overfly the electrified fence and landscapes of the Reservation, then land at Malpais. The pilot assures safety and mentions a dance at the pueblo for the summer festival. Bernard and Lenina settle at the rest-house, on the threshold of their first direct encounter with “savagery.”
Who Appears
- Bernard MarxAlienated Alpha-Plus; rejects soma and crowds, seeks solitude; scolded and threatened with Iceland; panics, then takes soma en route to Malpais.
- Lenina CrowneTorn but committed to the trip; values conditioning, fun, and soma; sleeps with Bernard; soothes his panic and continues to Malpais.
- Director (D.H.C.)Signs the permit, recalls losing a woman in New Mexico, then formally threatens Bernard with transfer to Iceland for nonconformity.
- Helmholtz WatsonReceives Bernard’s boast and call; later informs Bernard of the D.H.C.’s public plan to replace him, prompting Bernard’s panic.
- Fanny CrowneAdvises Lenina, blaming Bernard’s oddness on alcohol in his surrogate; upholds conventional views.
- Warden of the ReservationBooming Alpha-Minus who delays them with statistics and cautions about the Reservation’s fences and customs.
- Gamma-green pilot (octoroon)Flies them to Malpais, jokes about ‘tame’ savages, and mentions the upcoming pueblo dance.
- Young Indian guideAssigned at Malpais to escort Bernard and Lenina toward the pueblo and festival.